


Day 2- Guns and Donuts

by danceinstylinson



Series: Day by Day [2]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Bipolar Disorder, M/M, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 02:35:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1452325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danceinstylinson/pseuds/danceinstylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day by Day- a series that follows Mickey and Ian as Mickey tries to take care of Ian with the help of Mandy, the Gallaghers, and various other characters.</p><p>Day 2: Mickey panics when he realizes how unsafe the Milkovich house is. Mandy thinks donuts make a great meal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 2- Guns and Donuts

Day 2 - Guns

When Mickey awoke the next morning, it was to the feeling of his heart ready to leap out of his chest. Ian was still asleep beside him, curled up in his blankets, but not tight enough like he was when he was awake. Mickey bolted straight for his dresser after sparing a quick glance at Ian. He wrestled with the top drawer, his hands wrapping tight around the sides, yanking and pulling until he finally ripped the entire thing out. He glanced back at Ian. Still sleeping. How he slept through all that racket he had no idea, but for once he was glad he was still asleep. Glad he wasn’t seeing the sheer panic Mickey was going through. He turned his attention back to the drawer. Right, gotta get this the fuck out of here, he though to himself, before quickly hauling the drawer across the room and maneuvering it through the doorway. 

“What the fuck?” Mandy said as Mickey dropped the drawer on the kitchen table with a loud thump. 

“We gotta get these fucking guns out of the house,” Mickey said, wiping the sweat from his brow as his eyes darted around nervously. “Help me unload them. Get all the bullets out.” He ran a hand through his hair and then started pacing. “Go into the other rooms. Get any other guns lying around—“ 

“Mickey!” Mandy placed her hands on his shoulders and steadied him from his frantic pacing. “Breath. What happened?” 

“What happened? What do you fucking mean ‘what happened?’ Ian’s fucking depressed. Remember? Remember what Fiona said? Could get suicidal? Fuck.” Mickey let out a long breath, his fists clenching and unclenching. “Why didn’t I do this yesterday? The knives too, we have to lock those up or something. I gotta clean out the whole bedroom. I—“ 

“Mickey!” Mandy shouted again, snapping him back into focus. 

“Stop fucking shouting,” Mickey said, shrugging out of her grip. “You’ll fucking wake him up.” 

“Oh like all the racket you were making with that drawer didn’t already wake him up?” 

Mickey sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just help me get rid of the guns. Please.” 

Mandy was silent for a moment, biting her lip before nodding. “Sure.” Then she smirked, letting out a humorless laugh. “Joey and Iggy are gonna be pissed.” 

“Yeah, the fuck do I care? Their own fault for not taking their guns with them,” Mickey said, turning away as be began to empty out the guns in his drawer. 

***  
Mickey collapsed onto the couch late that night after having spent the majority of the day tidying up the house and getting rid of all the weapons. He was exhausted, but it was worth it. Anything to keep Ian safe was worth it. He cracked open a beer just as Mandy came in through the front door. She was still in her work clothes, but she was carrying a box and a book bag. 

“Dinner,” she said, dropping the box onto the coffee table before disappearing into her room. 

Mickey furrowed his brows and leaned over to open the box. “Really, Mandy?” he called out after her. 

A few moments later she reappeared, now in sweats and long sleeved shirt. “Shut up, douchebag. There was some leftover shit at the diner and they let me take it home,” she said as she twisted her hair into a ponytail. 

“Donuts? You work at fucking wafflehouse,” Mickey said, picking up a sticky, glazed donut from the box. 

“I don’t know, alright,” Mandy said plopping down beside her brother and plucking the donut out of his hand. Glaze had always been her favorite. Mickey sighed and went for the powdered one and instantly regretting it when it made a mess all down the front of his shirt. Since when he started giving a shit about making messes, he didn’t know. But it pissed him off. It pissed him off enough to hop off the couch and go into the kitchen to fetch some napkins. 

At that moment, Svetlana decided to emerge from her bedroom, strolling out into the living room with her tits hanging out of her robe. 

Mandy didn’t even bat an eye, only pushed the box of donuts towards her. “You or your girlfriend want one?” 

Svetlana eyed the box of donuts with disgust. “We eat already.” 

Mandy shrugged. “Whatever,” she said, shoving a piece of donut into her mouth and then licking the glaze off her fingers. “If you want one, feel free,” she said through a mouthful. 

Mickey came back then, dropping napkins onto the table, just as Mandy bolted forward. “Hey, what kind does Ian like?” she asked, grabbing a napkin and placing it in the palm of her hand. 

Mickey’s head shot up at the sound of Ian’s name. “What?” 

“Donut, asshole. What kind does he like?” 

Mickey knew very well that Mandy would know that already, what with all the time they’d spent over the years eating all kinds of shit and playing video games or whatever the fuck they did. Still, he appreciated Mandy asking him. Making it seem like he would know more than her about these things. These little, insignificant things. Little things about Ian. 

Mickey shrugged, “The jelly ones,” he said simply, as if it were no big deal. He tried not to remember the time at the Gallagher’s house, when someone had brought home donuts, and Ian had gone straight for the jellies, biting into it too hard because he was so damn excited. He tried not to think about the fact that Ian had probably been manic at the time. Tried not to remember how much of a mess he’d made when the jelly went everywhere, all down his chin and chest. Tried not to remember how Ian had let him lick it off. He hadn’t minded the messes then. 

“Awesome,” Mandy said, placing the jelly donut onto the napkin and hopping off the couch. 

Mickey sighed, watching her walk towards his room. “He’s not gonna eat it,” he said but Mandy wouldn’t hear it. 

“We gotta try, right?” she said, before twisting the door knob and poking her head inside. “Ian? Ian, we’re all having donuts for dinner. Left over shit from the diner.” She let out a small laugh. “Anyways, I got your favorite….” She walked in and then Mickey turned his head away from the door and tuned out the rest. He didn’t want to hear Ian tell her to go away in that same, broken voice. Didn’t want to hear him shout at her either. He brought the beer he’d been drinking earlier to his lips and let his eyes fall shut for just a moment. When he opened them again, Mandy was just returning, carrying the book bag from before in her hand. 

“What’s that?” Mickey asked, nodding towards the bag. 

“Stopped by the Gallagher’s on my way home from work. Got Debbie to let me borrow her laptop,” she said, watching her brother raise his eyebrows at her. 

“What for?” 

“Figured we could use it to, ya know, look up stuff about this bipolar thing,” Mandy said, opening the laptop. 

Mickey nodded quickly and scooted closer to his sister. “You know how to use this thing?” he asked as she quickly typed in the password and waited for the screen to load. 

“Yeah, shithead. I had to use this thing to fill out Lip’s college applications last year. Anyways,” Mandy said quickly, and Mickey knew it was because she didn’t want to talk about Lip. “I really think we need to do this. We need to learn more about this thing, if we’re gonna get anywhere with helping Ian. The Gallagher’s know shit because of their mom, but like, not everyone with this disease acts the same, right? Maybe Ian won’t be anything like his mom.” 

Mickey swallowed hard. God I hoped not. The stories he’d heard about Monica quickly flashed through his mind. No. Ian wasn’t going to be like her. “Yeah…yeah.” 

Mandy looked up and saw her brother’s troubled expression. “Hey,” she said, squeezing his hand. “He’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna take care of him.” 

Mickey nodded and then they both turned back to the shitty laptop which had finally finished loading, and Mandy began to type ‘bipolar disorder’ into the search bar. Mickey sucked in a deep breath and braced himself for whatever was about to come up. 

They scrolled through dozens of pages full of terms they’d never heard of and barely understood. Mickey was tired, Mandy was tired, and they could barely focus as the hour wore on. Finally, Mandy yawned and pushed the laptop onto the other side of the couch. “Maybe we should try again tomorrow morning. When we’re not total zombies.” 

Mickey nodded quickly and yawned himself. “Yeah. Good idea.” 

He padded across the the living room and carefully opened the door to his bedroom. “Ian?” When he received no answer from the huddle of blankets, he pushed into the room. Ian’s breathing was slow and calm, so Mickey knew he was asleep for real, not just pretending. He crossed over to the other side of the bed where a plate—probably left there since the last time Ian had actually eaten—Mandy’s donut and a glass of water stood on the night table. Mickey sighed as he went to reach for them. He had hoped but— 

Mickey lifted the plate up to the window to make sure he was seeing correctly. There were a few pieces of the donut missing, jelly oozing out onto the plate. He glanced back at Ian who was curled up around himself, his face soft and calm now as he slept. On the white blanket Mickey noticed red little splotches. Any other day Mickey would have gone into a panic and thought of blood, but today he let out a small smile. Ian was always a mess with jelly donuts.


End file.
